Not Always a Hero, Sometimes Just a Man
by wolfswan
Summary: Sometimes, it is hard to remember that the hero is just a man.
1. The Good Fight Never Ends

Tony Stark was not always the hero that people knew him as. He had once been a spoiled brat, a pompous ass that held out his hand and got what he wanted on a gold platter. He was a billionaire, a playboy, he had the world in the palm of his hands and, it seemed, Tony would never differ from his lavish lifestyle. He couldn't always see the difference between right and wrong; for Tony it had always been about money, it was about being the top dog at everything he did.

But that had changed the day he had woken up to a man telling him that he was tinkering on life's edge. The threat of death puts perspective into ones' eye and it certainly did it to Tony.

It changed the course of his life to the degree where he became someone knew entirely; almost. Tony Stark was still a spoiled brat, a pompous ass that held out his hand and got what he wanted on a gold platter. He was still a billionaire and enjoyed the perks of being a playboy but this time around he was a lover of peace instead of a lover of the perks of attempting to make peace.

"_Yeah, peace, I love peace …I'd be out of a job with peace._" Tony had once informed the very soldiers he outfitted; pleased that they enjoyed the promise of his new weapons and the protection they offered, the destruction they caused.

With the knowledge that there was shrapnel in his chest from his own designs, that the enemy was using his weapons really did a number on him. It was easy for him to rethink the ideas of Stark Industries; it was even easier for him to change the whole premise. No longer was he against peace but he was for it, everything he did became in creating world peace – protection for people but never bringing harm to anyone unless they truly deserved it.

No more would his weapons wreck havoc on the world, not as long as he had a say so: Stark Industries was to serve an all new purpose in life. His legacy would no longer be something that could maim and kill with one move but instead it would be the Iron Man suit, known for all the good it had done.

But like any great tool it had to come down before it could go up. The obstacles kept coming and Tony was forced to keep fighting.

It was only after he became the hero that he realized the good fight never ended.


	2. An Arc for Redemption

Every man had a history and every hero had a story but when the hero and man were one in the same, suddenly everything became private. In the case of most, history was irrelevant; nobody cared about the past, it didn't matter how they got there or what they had done. It was all about the now so it was easy to keep those locked up. But the present, the story, was always on everyone's tongue.

Everyone wanted to know who the face under the mask was. Sometimes it was obvious, because sometimes they just gave themselves away. Tony was one of those men who just gave himself away. He was also one of those men who had a history that was relevant to his future, to his now, to the very fact that he was a hero.

Without his history, Tony Stark would still be an ordinary man, extraordinary but ordinary. He accepted that fact long ago, he knew that he would have tongues wagging for years. Iron Man's history was out in the open, it was followed, he had been a hero that was born from the ashes and followed as he was raised and created.

And honestly, Tony didn't care.

He had very few regrets in his life and each step forward he made as Iron Man he looked to as a small step of redemption; every fail was two steps backwards.

When he agreed to be part of S.H.I.E.L.D he accepted it as a leap of faith and a giant step forward, one that could possibly redeem half a dozen years of destruction caused by Stark Industries. It seemed that the Avengers Initiative, though, was a loss cause.

The battle against Loki was unbeatable. Every man down called five more into play, every city put out of harm's way shot three more up in flames. He countless thought back to his originally argument with Pepper and Fury; _he did not play well with others_. To top it off, it didn't seem like the rest of their so called team were much of team players either.

Tony wanted redemption but most days, it felt like he would never get it.


	3. The Greatest Creation

Tony had always known about Steve Rogers, the wimpy boy with the loyalty that shined. He knew how his father loved him, worshiped the ground he walked on for being the hero that nobody else could. As a child, his father's greatest creation was the bane of his existence. The only good Captain America ever did for him was push him to be better than the best that he could be.

He could never live up the expectations his father set for him; he could never be the man that Steve Rogers was, as himself or as Captain America.

For that, Tony hated him.

It didn't stop him from learning everything he could about the dead hero though because as much as he hated the hero, he was curious. So when he finally met the Captain, he would know him inside out …all the way down to the elements used in the serum to create him.

When he came face to face with the Captain for the first time, Pepper's stern reminder of _place nice, Tony, I mean it_ was quickly forgotten.

"Mr. Stark."

"Captain."

In a classless, childish way, Tony so desperately wanted Steve to fail. He wanted the timeless hero to have been affected by his years lost but he wasn't. He was just as humble and modest as the stories said he was.

So he was the child; he bickered, he countered every move and order the Captain gave and when all else failed, he ignored the soldier. But he did his job; he was Iron Man, one of the Avengers: earth's mightiest heroes and he fought against Loki. He helped bring him down until Thor screwed it up.

They argued, they fought and in the mishap Loki escaped. Rage bubbled up in Tony and he lashed out at Thor like he had never lashed out at anyone before. Blow after blow, he rained them down on the demi-god not realizing that Captain was there, watching everything. His suit took damage, the God took damage and when they finally could take no more Cap' stepped in and ended it.

He threw Thor to the side like a ragdoll and it was the first time that Tony had truly seen the shield that his father had created so many years ago. "Enough!" He stopped them both in their tracks, a hand raised to Tony and his shield raised to Thor. With his wisdom and commanding voice, his way of making everyone feel like a scolded puppy he sent Thor back to base but kept Tony back.

"I know you hate me and I can't stop you," Captain America kept his gaze away and it was the first time he had ever seen his father's greatest creation seem like anything but that. He seemed human; he seemed human. "But I will not let you divide our team because of it."

Tony allowed his helmet to open. "So this is my fault, Captain? Thor was the one who took Loki out of our hands…we could have ended this tonight."

"And he could have brought him back but you allowed Loki to escape because you were angry."

A retort about being lectured as on the tip of his tongue, his shoulders were back and his metal fist was clenched; Tony was all ready for another sparing match when it dawned on him. Captain had never once touched him when he joined in the brawl. He had stopped him but never aimed to hurt; never thrown him back, never used his shield against him but yet took every blow that Iron Man dealt out.

And now, as he talked to him …he didn't talk down to him instead he talked to him as if he was talking to a family member and Tony realized, as he thought about how his father had talked about Steve Rogers. How no matter what Tony did to him, Steve tried and tried to make peace, to do it his way because he wanted to be friends. He didn't seem to care about the others but whatever Tony said, whatever Tony did, it was okay.

He wasn't just his father's greatest creation but he had been like a son to Howard Stark and Tony hated him even more than before, if it was even possible. Because now he didn't just have a legend to live up to as a hero, but now he had to live up to him as a brother.

But through all his hate, he felt a soft spot growing because maybe, just maybe one day there would be room enough for there to be two great creations: one Stark and one Rogers; both heroes, both friends and maybe brothers.


End file.
